At least 27 people have been killed after shooters opened fire at two mosque in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

Police have taken four people into custody, three men and one woman, after the attacks, which involved a fleet of rifles and cars containing improvised explosive devices.

One of the gunmen live streamed his attack on Facebook, which was later picked up by a YouTube channel, shooting at worshippers with his semi-automatic weapon as they gathered for Friday prayers at the Masjid Al Noor mosque.

That gunman has been confirmed to be Brenton Tarrant, 28, who wrote a 37-page manifesto declaring his evil intentions.

“I was a communist, then an anarchist and finally a libertarian before becoming an eco-fascist,” he wrote.

He also made a bizarre reference to Spyro the Dragon, a PlayStation game, saying it “taught me ethno-nationalism”.

He claims to have had brief contact with Anders Breivik, who was a far-right terrorist who killed 69 members of a youth league summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya in 2011. He killed a further eight through a car bomb in Oslo.

He was a member of anti-immigration, far-right groups and claimed to be a member of a new order of Christian Knight Templars in a manefesto detailing his motivation for the attacks.

The gunman also wrote of how he supported US President Donald Trump “as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose,” but not as a policymaker.

He goes on to reference Candace Owens: “The person who has influenced me above all is Candace Owens”. Owens is an outspoken US pro-Trump activist known for her criticism of Black Lives Matter and of Democratic Party.

Camera IconPolice escort men from a mosque.Picture: AP

In a chilling post on a social media forum posted last night, the ring leader stated: “I will carry out an attack against the invaders and even live stream the attack via Facebook.”

His display profile photo on the extremist forum featured a cartoon man wearing a wide-brimmed Dundee-style hat, clutching a VB beer with the caption: “hold still while I glass you.”

In his distributing post before the attack, the man posted: “If I don’t survive the attack, goodbye, godbless, and see you all in Valhalla!”

In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a “majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin”.